The Secret War of John Alan Halford
by ML-TheMaster
Summary: From the moment he saw Ricky Hanson leave court with that smugness and shamelessness of what he had done, Jack had promised himself, and promised Mary that he might have lost the battle, but he would win the war.
1. Chapter 1  Leaving Court

_**THE SECRET WAR OF JOHN ALAN HALFORD**_

_**I've noticed when I've read NT Fanfics that a lot of them feature around Gerry and Sandra, in this one I want to look at Jack and what he did after the trial, up to finally getting justice against Hanson.**_

**L****eaving Court**

He tries to smile to Sandra, Brian and Gerry. They put their arms around him as they walk him to the car, 'how on earth can a jury be that stupid' he asks himself, as he sees Hanson smiling getting into a car to enjoy his 'ill-gotten freedom.'

'Dont worry mate, he'll cock up at some point' Standing reassures, 'the likes of him cannot resist crime.' Not that it matters at the moment now the man, the monster is free.

'Jack, I'm so sorry at what happened,' Sandra says, 'sometimes justice doesn't happen.'

'Oh Dont!' he shouts at them, causing the three of them to stop and look at him. 'I'm sorry, I mean it's not your fault.'

'Anyway, I think we need to go to the pub, have some fun before next week.'

'I'm not.' Brian says, Esther's cooking my dinner, 'Jack, she's asked do you want to come over, have something to eat, some company.'

'No.'

'Well the pub then?' Gerry suggests.

'No, I want to go home. To spend some time with Mary.'

Sandra nods, 'if that's what you want to do then do it, and relax, the trials over now.'

'Mr Halford, Mr Halford' shouts a member of the media rushing forward with a microphone, 'did you lie about Ricky Hanson attacking you?'

'Mr Halford is not making any statements to the media,' Sandra brushes away the personnel.

They soon reach the car, Gerry and Brian shake hands as they make their farewells, and get into the Stag which pulls away. Jack looks at Sandra, he sometimes feels like she's his daughter, or a niece, they've laughed together and they've also cried together, and today is one of those occasions when it is the latter.

'I can't believe it, believe what they have done, if only they knew what the man was like, what he did.'

'Jack, don't worry, he'll make a mistake, you know he will and everyone will see what he's like' Sandra tries to reassure, 'Jack are you sure that you don't want to spend the weekend with me, stay at mine, it'll cheer you up.'

'No, I want to go home.'

'Okay then, but you take care okay.' She pulls him into a hug, she feels just as dreadfully for him. She knows how much this man means to him, means to Mary. Sandra knows that she did the right thing in stopping Jack from doing the most stupid thing he knows he's ever done, but she knows that he'll not feel like that now.

'Thanks Sandra' he says as he gets into the car. He tries to force one last smile before he drives off.


	2. Chapter 2  At Home

**THE SECRET WAR OF JOHN ALAN HALFORD**

**At Home**

As he opens the door he looks at the hallway feeling depressed. He had left the house that morning so confident, so hopeful that justice would be done, and now how does he feel? Cheated is the word that sums it all up at present, that man Hanson lied to everybody in that court room and now, having used those lies he has gained his freedom.

He turns to the picture of him and Mary taken at a wedding around four months before she was hit, before 'he' hit her. 'I'm sorry love' he says at the photo. 'I'm sorry.'

He pours himself a brandy before sitting in the armchair, this is something Jack had not expected, that Hanson would be cleared. He knew, they all knew how strong the case was, for God's sake they saw the man on the CCTV trying to kill him, and this was dismissed by Hanson's team as the man trying to help Jack until the 'unprovoked assault on him by Brian.' He's shocked at what has happened and badly shaken at the news, the man responsible for murder, acquitted by a jury who took in a lie. 'Where's the justice love?' He asks Mary, 'Where's the bloody Justice?' He bangs the glass on the table that he notices the cracks beginning to appear.

As he walks around the house he cannot bear the thought of the weekend concluding and Monday morning arriving, having to pretend to everyone, including his best friends that he is alright, and that he will be able to manage. He knows he can't, and that he doesn't want to do it anymore, 'what's the point love?' He asks Mary as he moves to the other side of the living room, 'you present a nailed on case to the courts, produce all that clear-cut evidence, CCTV for God's sake and they still throw it out. **HOW ON EARTH ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO GET A CONVICTION WHEN THE EVIDENCE IS SO BLOODY OBVIOUS...' **He calms down, imagining Mary at his side, holding his hand.

That's what she always was best at. Jack's always been known for being a good man and a softly spoken man, but he knows that he can get into a huge temper and whenever frustration in the job got the better of him she was there to calm him down, and give him the words he needed to hear to go with it.

'I'm sorry love, but we'll get him, 'battles o'er but war isn't he tells her' the first positive words he has heard since 3:15pm.

He notices a photograph on the wall, he's not looked at it for years, he knows who the figure is, he was presented to it 50 years ago, he looks at the words at the bottom. 'P.C. John Alan Halford, admitted to the service in Her Majesties Metropolitan Police, October 14th 1956, presented to him by his very proud parents.'

He can see him in the middle, just a man of 18 then, flanked by his father John, who's been gone nearly 30 years, and his mother Margaret who's been gone 20 years. Jack knows how proud they were of him, but he knows how much the job got in the way of being with them, especially near the end.

'1956, that's fifty-two years you've worked in the Met,'

'And no more' he tells himself.


	3. Chapter 3  Weston Super Mare  Monday

**THE SECRET WAR OF JOHN ALAN HALFORD**

**Weston-Super-Mare**

Monday

He sits in his hotel room which looks out onto the promenade and the sea. He arrived on Sunday and he has got no intention of heading home today. He needs the time to be with Mary.

He never slept on Friday night or Saturday night, feeling sick, feeling horrible at the ordeal he had just gone through, he imagined what Hanson had done since, what he might have tried to do since, but quelled it as it did not bear thinking about whatsoever.

He's heard his mobile go off several times, noticed that Brian, Gerry, Sandra, even Strickland have rung to see how he is, but he doesn't respond, for the first time he doesn't feel attached to the Met anymore, attached to UCOS. He knows that there's no going back, he's currently AWOL and he knows that he will be dismissed for that, 'what's the point in going back now love?' He asks Mary as he sits on the edge of the bed, 'just go home, to make it official? Jack Halford, sacked from the Metropolitan Police Force in disgrace, come on Mary, we deserve better than that, you know it.'

He decides to go and sit in the lounge, he knows that there is little point in him sitting on his own for the rest of his days thinking about Friday and Hanson is going to drive him mad, even without the police work. As he walks into the lounge he spots an elderly couple sat in the bar with a copy of the Star – he can see the headline, 'MET DETECTIVE GOES ABSENT AFTER HANSON VERDICT.'

As he sits down with a whisky, he can see the two of them chatting, and glancing in his direction, 'please don't come near me.' He pleads, as he sees the woman get up

'You ok dearie?' She asks him,

'Yes I'm fine thank you, enjoying the chance to get away for a few days.'

'You look like that retired detective from that trial.'

'Do I? Which one do you mean?'

'The one where the bloke was accused of trying to kill the old detective,'

'You mean the one that finished last week?'

'Yeah'

He picks up the paper, he can see the image of him with Sandra, Brian and Gerry trying to whisk him to the car, 'Yeah I suppose I do' he lies.

'Terrible thing he's done though, loses a case and he goes into hiding, I mean that hardly gives the impression he was being honest.'

'So, are you here for a celebration or something?''

'We were married 50 years last Wednesday,'

'oh wonderful, congratulations.'

'Are you here on business or pleasure?'

'Well I retired on Friday, as a copper as coincidence would have it, and me and my late wife always said that we'd retire here, sadly, she died 10 years ago, but I'm here for the week, going to look at a few houses.'

'Well that sounds nice.'

Jack nods, 'you retired on Friday' he reminds himself, you wont be going back to them ever again'.

He makes it final.

'Never'


	4. Chapter 4  WSM and Brian Lane

**THE SECRET WAR OF JOHN ALAN HALFORD**

**Weston-Super-Mare**

Thursday

Four days he's been absent from UCOS now, and he's finally getting used to the idea that he won't be going back there again. He'll miss Sandra, Brian and Gerry but he'll not miss the job, it's become hard enough as it is and now when you are without the ability to rely on a group of jurors to do the right thing the job has become impossible.

This morning he walks to the beach, to try and get some of the fresh sea air into his lungs, he knows that he'll have to return to London soon, to face home, and he knows that when he gets back that he will have to face his three friends, and explain why he had to let them feel so worried about them. That's the only pang of guilt he can feel, that he doesn't contact them but he knows how UCOS operates, and that everyone looks out for one another, if he let them know where he was then they would all come rushing after him, in particular Brian.

'Where did it all go wrong love?' he asks Mary as he sits on the beach, on one of the tides, 'why did Hanson get off?' He listens intently to what his wife has to say, 'but its not fair, you didn't deserve it, and he doesn't deserve that freedom.' He then listens to what else she has to say, 'why should I? I mean what has it given me apart from a dodgy ticker and a lifeload of stress?' He listens to her reply, 'No love, not after Friday, there's no point.'

He can hear the footsteps of a man walking behind him, he feels nervous as the man approaches but he relaxes, if its Hanson, he knows that he can finish him off now, it'd mean that he'd be back with Mary by tea-time. He hears the familiar voice, and inside, his heart sinks, they've found him.

'What are you after Brian?'

'I want to see how you are, to get you to come back to us.' Brian explains,

Using 'I want' is certainly Brian's way of saying that he's made it his personal mission, in effect, doing exactly what Gerry and Sandra told him not to do.

'How am I then?' He shoots back, 'stupid man' he mutters silently to himself, 'how do I look?'

Brian tells him about what Strickland said and how Sandra and Gerry both await new jobs, 'good for them.' He tells Brian.

'If you go, the whole unit is going.' Brian pleads, 'and that means me mithering Esther all the time.'

'You are wasting your time' he responds, staring at him, 'now Go Away, you're treading the fine line here.'

'That's what friends are supposed to be for, Memory insists, 'anyhow, what does Mary say?'

Now that hit a nerve, 'What?'

'You've been talking to her for the last half an hour, I've seen you.'

He doesn't want to tell him. How she is telling him to stick at it, because it is what he enjoyed, being a detective, solving cases, she knows that its why he got involved in UCOS in the first place, to stop him being bored at home after retiring.

'I cant do it Brian, not now Hanson's out there, he got away with it and laughing at

'Then don't give him the last laugh. Dont LET HIM STOP YOU DOING WHAT YOU DO THE BEST AT.'

'Why not, all I've lost is just a job?' He explains, trying to make Brian see his point of view.

'I know you Jack' Brian insists. 'And to you, this is not, just a job.'


	5. Chapter 5  Return to UCOS

**Thanks to San22 for reviewing this fanfiction. Hope you are enjoying it.**

**THE SECRET WAR OF JOHN ALAN HALFORD**

**Back at UCOS**

9:30am

He's being led through the corridors of the Met by Brian. He doesn't know why, its not as if he's new to the place, but he knows that Brian is trying to be kind, and that all he should do for that is be polite and thank him for it, even if he's not bothered. How did he manage it? To persuade him to go back to UCOS, he knows that Mary has been urging, pestering him to do the same, so certainly someone thinks that his future lies with the Met.

Strickland is already there waiting for them, Brian's told him about Strickland decreeing that in his opinion Jack didn't work for the Met anymore and Strickland has only told Brian that he might review that stance, not that he will renew that stance. Brian's eager to get Jack back involved, to try and keep him in the job.

At the end of the day, Jack can appreciate that Brian is right about one thing, that UCOS isn't just a job to him. Its a challenge, its showing to people that he knows that he can carry on, and just be as good a detective that he was when he was at 35, compared to him being 70 now. As they walk through the door into what he has felt as his second home, the one he shares with his friends, Brian and Strickland stick their head into Sandra's office to explain that the prodigal 'dad' has returned.

'Jack' Sandra says shaking his hand professionally, 'welcome.'

'Thank you.'

'Hello there mate' Gerry says, equally as pleased to see Jack back, 'you ok?'

He nods, and then suggests 'How about a cup of tea'

5:50pm

Its the end of the day, and both Gerry and Brian are packing up, he's glad he's come back, but he's glad that he's going to have the chance to put his feet up, the case they've got, is really interesting one, typical UCOS, murder of a farmer, hated by all, with a load of suspects but no evidence, unsolved after 35 years, it was certainly going to give him a run for his money.

'Jack' Sandra shouts, he can certainly see that she's got the headmistress voice back, 'My office'

He does what he's told, he knows what's coming, and he's glad that Sandra is going to give it

'Jack, where the hell were you last week?' She snaps.

'I'm sorry Sandra; I couldn't face going back here, not straight after Friday.' He explains,

'Well Jack, you of all should know it was unprofessional, regardless of the circumstances which the three of us understood. Anyway, you know that it was Gross Misconduct i.e. an offence for which you could or should expect instant dismissal.'

'I know that and I'm sorry.'

'Well I've managed to persuade Strickland to let you back in, but consider it that you are on a Final warning. You pull any games like last week and you and UCOS are finished, understood.'

'Yes Sandra' he nods.

He goes to the door,

'Jack' she calls out.

'Yes?'

'I'm glad you're back.'

**Next CHAPTER: The Last Laugh**


	6. Chapter 6  At War's end

**THE SECRET WAR OF JOHN ALAN HALFORD**

**The Final Chapter**

Sandra orders him into the office again,

'Jack, we have a link here with Hanson, and we think we may be a link. So much so, that he has been brought in for questioning.'

He smiles pleased, 'knew the sod would come back one day.' He tells her.

'Jack, we don't need that at the moment, remember how we were confident last year ahead of the trial.'

'But he's guilty.'

'We cannot be sure of that, there is a link but we cannot just say that we've got him for certain.'

He can feel the blood beginning to drain from his face, he tries to smile. But he's now anxious.

'What are you saying Sandra? That we may miss out on him again?

'I'm telling you as a friend to be aware here. We all know what Hanson has done is extremely terrible and no one will give me a greater pride in UCOS than the chance to send Ricky Hanson down, but remember what happened last year.

'The number of times I've gone through that' he says, 'What do you want me to do?'

'Go home; I cannot interview him without wondering about what you might do.'

'But Sandra,'

'Jack, for your own sake, and the sake of the case, go home.'

He's done what he was told to do, and now he can feel the heart racing. He wants to ring Brian up every three minutes to get the latest developments. 'Come on Sandra' he tells her, acutely aware that he cannot be heard. 'Come on' he pleads.

He makes himself a cup of tea and sits at the table. Surely they cannot be taking this long, he looks at the phone, 'please ring' he begs it. 'Just tell us now, one way or the other.'

Then, the doorbell goes.

Wondering who it could be he walks nervously towards the door. As it opens it he can see the three of them there. Gerry and Brian cant look him in the eye, Sandra frowns perplexed, 'Oh God' he mutters, 'please don't do this to me.'

All of a sudden, Sandra's face beams and she pulls out two bottles of champagne. He swallows her into a bear hug, 'Fantastic' he shouts, hugging her tightly. He cant believe it, Hanson's been caught by the UCOS. At long last.

'Come on in, the three of you' he shouts to Brian and Gerry and they shake his hand warmly. 'I want to know all about it.' He shouts. 'Get a Chinese in,' he shouts, 'Make yourselves at home.' He knows the adrenalin is pumping.

Late that night, he can see the clock, its well after midnight, nearly one but it doesn't bother him. He's like a child on Christmas eve, not tired even though he was up at six he goes out, whisky in hand. He goes to the bench and he sits with Mary. He imagines and feels her hug; he can see the pride in her face, the tears in her eyes. After ten long years, the ordeal is over. The War against Hanson has been won.

'We did it love' he tells her proudly.

'We've GOT HIM!'

_**Shorter than FTFFT Hope that you have enjoyed it.**_


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